Yellow Fever S4
by Bad Day at Black Rock
Summary: Dean gets scared...real scared. Completely Dean's POV.
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: These fics are based on real episodes from Supernatural. The characters and plots belong to the creator and writers for the show. If you want background on the new character you can read the previous episodes.

_Authors Note: Sorry about chapter three being all crammed together, I was trying to get to the good stuff! This fic is completely Dean's point of view.  
_

Yellow Fever

Dean stared into the sink as he brushed his teeth; he was scrubbing so hard it made his gums bleed and he eased up, but it kept his mind from wandering. He really didn't want to wander lately, he didn't want to remember. Kayla had ironed out his dress shirt and slacks so he knew he was looking good in his FBI getup. His jacket and tie were hanging over the chair by the door, he smiled a little because he knew Kayla would insist on putting his tie on, even though he was completely capable.

Sam straightened his own tie in the mirror and paused, like he was thinking of something all of a sudden. He smiled slightly and sat on the bed to grab his shoes.

"You ok?" Dean glanced over his shoulder.

"Yeah, fine. But before we do this interview, you guys up for some breakfast?"

Usually Dean was the one to suggest food. "You know I'm always up for some food, but shouldn't we get on this?" They'd been looking for a job almost two weeks and he was ready for some action.

"I'll grab something and bring it back, I'm sure Kayla wants to eat too while she's stuck in the room."

"Yeah that'd be nice. Just make sure you drive around and find a good place." She mentioned.

"I will." There was a small hint of laughter in his voice.

Dean hated the inside jokes. He watched Kayla smile at Sam and wave as he walked out the door. It would have been a chance to say something about it but she stood and walked over to him.

"So, all alone and minty fresh huh?"

He paused, then smirked when he realized what had just happened. "And to think Sam has to read that dirty mind."

"Hey, not my fault he reads my thoughts. I'm just lucky he's so accommodating to them." She started unbuttoning his shirt.

"Don't wanna wrinkle the shirt."

She laughed. "God no, we don't want that."


	2. Chapter 2

After the coroners office they found out that despite Mr. O'Brian being nailed with death by heart attack, there were no signs in his heart that agreed with the finding. The coroner didn't feel it needed to be looked into. O'Brian was the third healthy man in the last week that had dropped dead of a heart attack.

Dean asked Kayla to go to the sheriff's office with him while Sam questioned the last person who saw Frank O'Brian alive. They sat in the waiting room for almost an hour before the sheriff's door opened.

"Hell's bells, Linus have you seen my…" He stopped and looked at them when they stood. "Who are they?"

"Federal Agents, sir."

"And you kept them waiting?"

"You said not to disturb."

"Come on in." He motioned them towards the office but stopped them at the door. "Shoes off."

Kayla glanced to Dean with a shrug before they kicked their shoes onto the small rug next to the door. They went into the office and exchanged handshakes with the man.

"Al Britton, good to meet you. Have a seat!" He said cheerfully. He then picked up a large container of hand sanitizer and proceeded to, well, sanitize his hands thoroughly. "So what can I do for Uncle Sam?"

"We're looking into the death of Frank O'Brian. We understand some of your men found his body."

This guy was stone. His blank expression bore into them. "They did. Me and Frank were friends. Hell, we were gamecocks."

Dean chuckled and she shot him a look. What? He fought back another laugh. Gamecocks.

"That's our softball team's name. They're majestic animals."

"Sir before he died, did you notice Frank acting strange? Like he was afraid maybe?"

He turned his attention to Kayla, already dissatisfied with Dean. "Oh yeah, real jumpy."

"Do you know why?"

"No, no idea. He stopped answering his phone and when I sent some of my boys to check on him, well, you know the rest." Britton coughed into his hand, then went back to work with the hand sanitizer. "So why do the feds give a crap? You don't really think there's a case here?"

This guy was germaphobe to the extreme. Kayla shook her head. "We're sure it's just a heart attack. We're just covering all the bases, you know what a pain procedure can be."

"Right." He smiled. "Is that all then?"

"That's it, thank you for your time." She didn't bother shaking his hand again, he could use a break from the sanitizer. They went outside. "That guy was weird."

"You think? And that definitely wasn't a heart attack."

"No, something's up. Too many healthy guys dead, with that same weird rash you guys saw at the coroners, too weird."

"And all freaking out right before they died. Something scared them to death."

"What do you think it is?"

"Hell." He shrugged. "The list of what it _isn't_ would be shorter. Anything could have scared them."

"I guess we'll need a list."

"Yeah, wait a minute." He stopped. There was a group of hooligans at the corner with their skateboards and baggy clothes, the type of kid that spelled out _up to no good._ They'd probably try to mug them or something when they walked by.

"What?"

"I don't like the look of those teenagers down there."

Kayla looked; and saw the group. She didn't look phased by them. "What do you mean?"

"Let's walk this way."

Without another word he crossed the street. She watched him, and then jogged to catch up. "Are you serious right now?"

"What? Who knows what they were up to?"

"Right." She checked her watch. "You should call Sam, see what he found out from the neighbor."


	3. Chapter 3

Sam found out plenty of information by talking with Frank's neighbor. Frank had been married over twenty years ago to a woman named Jessie. His neighbor said Frank had been a dick in high school, but got better after his wife died. He was pretty broken up about it. He'd also told Sam that right before his death, Frank started acting real jumpy and seemed to be afraid of just about everything which went along with the current theory of being scared to death.

Dean and Kayla went to the records department while Sam searched Frank's house for EMF, sulfur and all that whatnot. They dug up the records on Jessie O'Brian and found out not only had she died, she'd committed suicide. She had a history of manic depression and hung herself in a hotel room outside of town. Frank was working a swing shift at the time she disappeared, so he hadn't done any assisting of getting his wife to the other side.

Sam picked them up from the library and Dean explained the records.

"How was Frank's pad?"

"Clean, no EMF, no hex bags, no sulfur."

"So that rules out ghosts, witches and demons. Three down, ninety seven to go."

"Yeah."

Kayla leaned up and looked at the speedometer. "Dean, why are you doing twenty?"

"Because that's the speed limit."

"And I repeat…Dean, why are you doing twenty?"

"What safety is a crime now?" He answered, more aggressive than intended. "I just think I should do the speed limit, that's all."

She held her hands up and leaned back in her seat.

He passed an intersection and Sam had to pipe in.

"Dude that was our turn."

"I'm not making a left turn into oncoming traffic Sam, I'm not suicidal!" He paused. "Did I say that? That was kind of weird huh?"

"Do you hear that?" Sam looked around then pulled the EMF out of his pocket.

Dean glanced over, when the EMF got close to him the meter went crazy. "Am I haunted?" He looked at Sam. "Am I haunted?!"

Sam immediately got on the phone with Bobby and filled him in on the entire job. With a little research and a lot of luck maybe he could come up with something.

"You think I have the thing the other guys had?" Dean was asking Kayla.

"I don't know, you have been kind of jumpy lately."

"Jumpy? What makes you say that?"

"Dean you crossed the street to avoid a group of sixteen year old kids."

"They could have been gangsters!"

"Gangsters? Really?"

"Whatever."

The following morning Sam came out of the deli and to the Impala where Dean and Kayla were waiting to hear about his conversation with Bobby.

"What'd he say?"

"You're not gonna like it."

"What is it?"

"Ghost sickness."

"Ghost sickness? Oh, no…I don't know what that is."

"Ok." Sam went into his research mode, that kid loves his research. "It's a disease that a ghost can infect people with, the symptoms being that you get anxious, then scared, then really scared, then your heart gives out."

Well that's pleasant. "But we haven't seen a ghost in weeks.

"I doubt you got it from a ghost. Once the disease is caught it can spread from person to person just like any other disease. You probably got it at the coroner's office from Frank."

"Well why'd I get it? You're the one who got splattered with spleen juice."

"We have a theory about that too. See, all the guys who have gotten it share a personality trait. You know, one was a Vice Principal, one was a bouncer, basically they were dicks."

"You're saying I'm a dick?"

"No, I mean, they used fear to get what they wanted. They scared people."

"I don't scare people."

"That's all we do is scare people!"

"Then that makes you two dicks too!"

Sam shrugged. "Apparently not."

He grimaced. Jerk. "So how long til this thing takes over?"

"About twenty four hours. Why are you guys waiting out here?"

Dean glanced to Kayla.

"Yeah Dean, why are we waiting out here?"

"Because our room is on the fourth floor!"

Sam looked to Kayla for further explanation.

"It's high." She stated, sounding distressed.

"I'll um, I'll see if we can get switched." He rolled his eyes and walked away.

"You think I'm a dick?"

She smiled. "Not to me."

"Thanks babe." He said sarcastically. "So because I don't have the tender let's-hug-and-talk-about-it attitude like Sam, I'm a dick."

"Don't get worked up over a theory. If you've got what they've got, you have to watch your heart rate."


	4. Chapter 4

After he coughed up a woodchip in the hotel room, Sam had the brilliant idea of checking out the local abandoned factory. They had to move fast on this; he was already getting the road rash on his arms.

Dean pulled up to the factory and parked. The place was huge, and deserted, and dark, and just not welcoming looking at all. He got out of the car when Sam and Kayla did and just stared up at it.

"I'm not going in there."

"I need back up Dean." Sam told him.

"I can back you up." Kayla responded defensively. "He can wait in the car if he doesn't want to go in."

Oh so that's how it was going to be. They wanted to go in _alone._ "Alright let's do this." Dean took another long swig of Jack Daniels and popped the trunk. Wow there were a lot of sharp objects in there, not to mention the guns. They did a really violent job.

Sam held a pistol towards him.

He looked at it and stepped back. "I'm not carrying that." Why is he looking at him like that? "What? It might go off."

Kayla fought back a smile and patted him on the shoulder before taking the gun herself. "It's ok."

Dean reached in and grabbed the flashlight. "I'll man the flashlight."

Sam stared at him blankly. "You do that."

He followed behind them with the flashlight, shining into every dark corner and crevice he could find. God knows what could be lurking around this place. Sam pulled out the EMF but it kept reading off Dean.

"The EMF's not gonna work with me around huh?"

"You don't say."

"Look at this." Kayla reached down and picked up a wedding band laying on the floor. She read the inscription aloud. "To Frank, love Jessie."

"Frank O'Brian? What the hell was he doing here?"

They continued exploring the place and it only got darker and creepier as they went. This was not sweet at all. Not even a little bit. When they found the worker's locker room there was a noise coming from one of the lockers and Sam like a complete _moron_ went to investigate the noise. Doesn't he know that's how they always die in the horror movies? Never investigate the noise!

With both Sam and Kayla's guns aimed and ready, Sam reached out and opened the door. A cat meowed at them and jumped down, bounding across the floor into the next room. Dean screamed, twice, and they were looking at him like they were crazy again.

"That was scary!"

Kayla bust out laughing, she didn't even try to hide it.

Hearing that it was hard for Sam _not_ to laugh and he fought it back. "Kayla."

"I'm sorry." She covered her mouth to stop from laughing again. "But you just screamed like a little girl."

"Shut up."

She laughed again, making Sam laugh too. He didn't find it funny. Not at all. It was scary. This whole freaking place was scary. "You guys are hilarious, a freaking riot." He started to storm off but they'd come a long way through the building, through a lot of dark hallways…he walked back over to them. "Not a word."

"I'm sorry." Kayla shook her head and seemed to collect herself. Wonderful that she was so understanding about this.

They went into the next room, it seemed to be an office. Dean went to the desk and found an employee ID, the guy was creepy looking. Like a human monster. "Luther Garland." Under the ID was a sketch of a woman. "Hey, this is Frank's wife." He pulled out the missing poster folded in his pocket.

"The plot thickens." Sam went over.

"Yeah but into what?" He ripped the picture from the pad.

He gasped as the machines around them suddenly started running, which was impossible. There wasn't anybody there except them right? And they didn't do it, so if it wasn't them then who did it? The light shakily scanned the room and stopped on the figure of a large man facing the corner. Like the freaking Blair Witch Project, just standing there.

Kayla followed his gaze and saw the man. "Sam."

Sam turned and raised his gun. "Hey."

The man started to turn, and that was enough for him. Dean took off out the brightest looking doors and didn't look back until he'd reached the Impala. No, he could probably still be seen from here. He went around and ducked behind the back of the car, pulled out his bottle and started drinking again. Screw this scary crap.

A few minutes later he watched them coming out of the building, walking so close, Christ they were almost touching. Why didn't they just make out right in front of him? "I see you two are ok."

"Yeah, thanks for the backup." Sam commented and opened the trunk. "At least we've got the right place."

"You think I don't know what's going on here?!" He yelled at pointed between them, they both stopped and looked at him. "I know about you two, you understand? I'm not an idiot!"

Sam threw his hands up. "Are you serious?"

"It's just the ghost sickness." Kayla replied.

"I'm not sick! I see you talking, outside the rooms. Whispering, _touching_ each other! I swear to _God_ Sam I'll rip you apart!"

Kayla put her hands on either side of his face and got his attention. "Dean calm down."

He stepped away from her, he wasn't going to just look this over. "I am calm!"

"Baby you know what will happen if you let your heart rate go up." She stepped towards him again. "Calm, down."

"You're sleeping with him."

"You know that's not true Dean, look at me."

His eyes flickered back and forth before finally calming long enough to look at her.

"You know that's not true. I love you. Take a deep breath."

He inhaled slowly and closed his eyes for a moment. Maybe they weren't. She told him they weren't, she'd been honest when he came back and told him they'd kissed. But she hadn't told him about Ruby right away, shit. He didn't know what to believe right now.

"You have to stay calm, okay? I don't want to lose you again."

"I'm calm." He breathed. "I'm fine."


	5. Chapter 5

Apparently he was in no condition to drive. They made him sit in the back with Kayla to "keep him calm". What did they know? He was calm, he wasn't even scared of anything. Sam drove the Impala like a maniac.

"Would you slow down? Are you trying to kill us?" He scratched anxiously at his arm.

Sam didn't answer him.

"Stop scratching, you'll bleed."

"I can't help it!"

She reached under the seat and pulled out the first aid kit. "Roll up your sleeves."

He eyed the kit. "What are you gonna do?"

"I'm going to wrap up your arms so you can't scratch them raw!"

"You're going to put something on it, something with alcohol in it." Something that would sting, hasn't he been through enough without making his arms sting?

"Dean honestly." She took the medical wrap out and pulled up his sleeves. "Just tell me if it's too tight."

While Sam continued driving like Mad Max, Kayla carefully wrapped up his arms. He watched her do it and noticed his head was spinning; he may have overdone it on the Jack. The wrap wasn't too tight, she wouldn't make it too tight. She always took good care of him, he was being stupid about Sam. No, he wasn't being stupid. What was she doing kissing him anyway? He told her to make out with him like a year before he even went to hell, it doesn't carry over that far.

"Alright I'm going to run in and get…"

"Don't you think I should go in?" Kayla asked. "They've already met me, they might be easier to give up the information."

"Whoa whoa whoa…" Dean nearly slurred. "If you're going in, _I'm _going in."

Sam looked at Kayla. "You were saying?"

"Fine, you go in."

"I'm fine!" He stated. "I'm going in!" He threw the door open and it was lighter than he remembered; he almost fell onto the ground. Stupid ground. He turned and saw Sam and Kayla look at each other, probably doing their stupid mind speak crap they do. Probably talking about him. Or making out.

When they went inside Kayla went up to the counter, he could admit when he probably shouldn't talk to anyone.

"Hey, you guys are back." The young deputy smiled, was he hitting on her? "What can I do for you?"

"I need to get the police file on Luther Garland."

"Yeah, of course." He gave Dean a weird look and went to the other room.

"Hey."

Kayla looked back.

"You think he's good looking?"

She rolled her eyes. "Dean, stop."

"What?"

The kid came back and gave her the file. "Here's everything on Garland."

"Thank you." She flipped the file open and scanned the pages.

"Is he drunk?"

Dean nodded and smiled at him, to prove he wasn't drunk. He was fine.

"No." She pointed to the file. "This says that Luther was killed by physical trauma. What does that mean?"

"He died twenty years ago, it was before my time, sorry."

"May I speak with the sheriff?"

"He's out sick today."

"Okay, well, have him call us." She set down a card. "We're staying at the Bluebird, and thank you for your time." She nodded to him and went for the room.

"You know what?" Dean stepped forward. "You're awesome."

The guy laughed a little, obviously overwhelmed with gratitude at his praise. "Thanks. You too, I guess."

Kayla snagged him by the arm and pulled him outside.

"What?"

"Nothing, you did great."

"Yeah, I'm pretty awesome. That kid said so."

"No kidding." She opened the back door for him to get in.

He did, only because he didn't want to argue about whether or not he was too drunk to drive. _He _knew he wasn't.


	6. Chapter 6

They were all supposed to go to interview Luther's brother at the retirement center, but Kayla was freaking out about him needed to stay calm and wanted to be dropped off at the hotel where the outside elements couldn't scare him. Like he'd be scared. Psh.

After sitting around flipping channels and drinking beer for over an hour, Sam finally called Kayla with an update. He had no idea what the conversation was about but it didn't sound good for him, and Kayla kept side glancing at him like she was trying to figure out how _not_ to tell him what was going on.

"Well, just come on back to the motel then Sam. We'll see you in a few."

"What? What'd he say?"

"Frank O'Brian killed Luther. Apparently Luther had a crush on Frank's wife and when she went missing, he assumed he'd killed her. Frank showed up at the factory, wrapped a chain around his neck and dragged him up and down the strip in front of the factory with his truck until he was dead. The ghost sickness is making people experience his death in slow motion.

He rubbed the bandages along his arms. "Road rash."

"Yeah."

"And I'm guessing he probably swallowed wood chips while being dragged back and forth." Gross. "So what's the plan? We gotta find his body."

"Well, we're going to look into other options."

"Other options? Why would we look into other options? Why wouldn't we just burn the body and get the hell out of town?"

"Just, relax. Luther was dragged up and down that road, there are probably…pieces, of him everywhere. We won't be able to find every shred of DNA."

"What the hell?!" He threw his arms up; he was so tired of this near death _crap._ "Why do we do this Kayla? Who the hell hunts ghosts?!"

"Um…we do."

"Why?! Why do we go after things that want to kill us, or eat us? We're insane! Only crazy people do that!"

"Dean, calm. I'm listening okay? Just stay calm.'

He took a breath, no sense in speeding up his latest death sentence. "Don't you want to be normal? I mean hell, you inherited all that money, in a horrible way of course but the fact remains it's yours. We could just kick it poolside and not worry about monsters, there are plenty of hunters to worry about monsters."

She smiled slightly but didn't answer him.

Sam walked in, interrupting as usual. "Hey, how you feelin'?" He sat on the other bed.

Dean shrugged. "Super, considering the circumstances. What do we do now? I got less than four hours on the clock. I'm gonna die Sammy."

"_Yeah, you are. You're going back."_

"Going back?"

"_Yeah, hell, you're going back Dean. And it's about time too. You've been a real pain in my ass." His eyes glowed yellow._

Dean lunged at him but was thrown against the wall. "Get out of my brother you evil son of a bitch!"

"_Dean, no one is possessing me. This is what I'm going to become. This is what I want to become." He grabbed him by the throat and squeezed down._

"Dean!" Sam yelled at him, his hand on his chest. "Dean you ok?"

He looked around and saw Kayla still on the bed, looking incredibly worried, and Sam was standing in front of him. It had been a hallucination.

"Dean?"

He looked at her and sat back down on the bed. They were right, he was losing it.

"Bobby's on his way here, I'm going to meet up with him. Are you going to be ok with him here?"

"Yeah, we got it." She answered.

It wasn't twenty minutes that Sam left when Dean heard the dogs. Not just dogs, hellhounds. He jumped off the bed and ducked behind the chair.

Kayla sighed quietly. "Dean what's wrong?"

"Can't you hear them?" He ducked further down. "The hellhounds, can't you hear them at the door?"

Then the door really did start banging. "Well, someone's trying to bust in."

Sheriff Britton kicked the door in, Dean stood from behind the chair. "Why are you looking into Luther Garland's death?"

Dean saw the blood through his uniform. "Sheriff, you're sick like me. You're sick, you gotta calm down!"

He stepped forward and hit him across the face with the gun.

Kayla jerked her gun out of her bag and hit him in the back of the head with it. When he leaned forward she kneed him in the face, sending him onto the ground.

"Holy shit." Dean's eyes widened.

Kayla stood over him with her gun in his face. "You just need to chill out!"

"I'm not going down over a cover up! You're not taking me down!"

"If you don't calm down you'll have a heart attack! Stop!"

"Get away from me!"

She stepped back and he clutched his chest suddenly before his head rolled off to the side. Kayla rubbed her neck anxiously and looked at Dean. "Are you calm?"

"I'm trying."


	7. Chapter 7

Less than an hour. He had less than an hour and they still hadn't heard from Sam. What if they ran out of ideas? What if he was just going to die here of a stupid heart attack? What a stupid way to go, a hunter being scared to death. He breathed slower but heard voices, whispering in his head. _She's going to die, she'll die trying to save you…_He covered his ears to try to block out the noise. _Trying to keep you safe, she'll suffer again and again. _"Stop!"

Kayla kneeled on the floor in front of him. "It's ok, deep breaths."

_They'll all die trying to save you._ "Ah God, I need a distraction. Hey, you're great with distractions. What am I talking about? We can't have sex!"

She laughed at him arguing with himself. "It'll raise your heart rate."

"No not that, what if you get pregnant? The apocalypse is no place for a baby!"

"Dean," she smiled. "Stop over thinking."

"I'm trying."

"_Hi Dean."_

"You're not real."

"Dean what is it?" Kayla looked over her laptop.

"_Oh Dean I missed you so much! And now you're going to come back and we'll have so much fun!"_

"Get away from me!" He stood and looked at Lilith sitting on the bed.

"_Four whole months in hell Dean, that's like forty years in hell you now. Like, doggy years. And you remember every minute of it."_

"You're not real." He paced the floor.

"_It doesn't matter, because you're still going to burn. This is still what you're going to become!"_

He jumped as Kayla grabbed his shoulders.

"Dean!"

"Lilith…"

"No, Lilith isn't here Dean you're hallucinating."

He clutched at his chest and hit his knees. "Shut up!"

"_Listen to your heart Dean. Ba boom, ba boom, ba boom!"_

He backed up along the floor, trying to get away from her as his breath quickened.

"Dean focus! Look at me." She kneeled on the ground. "Lilith isn't here."

But he saw here, standing there, yelling at him, ready to drag him back to hell when his heart gave out. He gasped for air and suddenly, she was gone. He looked at Kayla.

"You still with me?"

He nodded shakily and rubbed his eyes. "Yeah."

Her cell phone rang and she opened it. "Sam? Yeah, yeah he's ok." She started unwrapping one of his arms. "The rash is gone, and the hallucinations. Yeah, we'll meet up with you guys." She closed the phone and smiled at him. "That was a little close for comfort huh?"

"You have no idea." He took the other wrap off and laid his head back on the floor, taking a deep breath. "Thank you. For trying to keep me from freaking out."

"Yeah sorry." She smiled. "You don't get to ditch me that easily."


	8. Chapter 8

For a moment they got to relax as Bobby handed them out some beers. Dean cracked his open and leaned against his car.

"So, you dragged a ghost by the neck, with a chain?"

"An iron chain." Sam corrected him. "With a spell etched into it." He nodded towards Bobby, giving him the credit.

"Well, that's a new one."

"Kind of mean though." Kayla pointed out.

"Yeah but it's what he was most afraid of."

"On the upside, I'm still alive so, go team."

"Yeah, how you feeling by the way?" Sam took a swig and looked at him.

"Fine."

"You sure Dean?" Bobby looked at him. "Because this line of work can get awful scary."

"I'm fine." He raised his voice. "What, you wanna go hunt? I'll hunt, I'll kill anything."

Kayla laughed. "They're just messing with you sweetheart."

"You told him about the cat didn't you?"

"I did not!"

Sam chuckled. "I did."

"See, wasn't me."

Bobby chuckled. "Alright, I gotta get outta here. You boys drive safe."

"You too Bobby," Sam called after him as he went to his car. "Thanks!" He turned back to Dean. "So, what did you see? Near the end."

"Well, I saw Kayla royally lay a smack down on some cop's ass."

"Seriously."

There was a long pause and he knew he wasn't going to tell him. "Howler monkeys. A whole room full of them. Those things freak the crap out of me."

"Right."

"Just the usual stuff Sammy, nothing I couldn't handle." He took another drink and slid an arm around Kayla, he was confident she wasn't going to fess up to what he'd hallucinated about.


End file.
